In Death
by Honey and Tea
Summary: While struggling to come to terms with Yuki's death, Kaname and Zero find themselves thrown into the course of each other's lives again. Eventual Kaname/Zero.
1. Some Kind of Serendipity

**A/N: **Hey guys, I'm back on the VK scene with a brand spanking new story! Hope you guys enjoy it, it's going to be a bit of a dark one.

Context: While trying to stay true to the anime/manga, it starts to veer off after the events of Rido.

Summary: While struggling to come to terms with Yuki's death, Kaname and Zero find themselves thrown into the course of each other's lives again.

Pairing: Eventual Kaname/Zero loveliness.

Rating: M. Probably more towards R for later lemons.

Chapter Warnings: Adult themes such as death, murder, grief and general melancholy. Bit of blood and gore (not actually that gory, but I'll add it in anyway).

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><p><strong>In Death<strong>

Chapter One: Some Kind of Serendipity

_Numb... nothing but numbness._

The silver cast of the moon glowed across the ripples of the lake, illuminating the silhouettes of the trees beyond the window of Kaname's private office. It was quiet, even considering the pureblooded leader's exquisite hearing. It had been quiet for a while now, ever since... ever since Yuki had passed away those few days ago. The mansion was in mourning.

The gentle lapping of the water against the sandy shore was unnerving to Kaname. His mind refused to fathom that the world was continuing to turn. Nothing mattered anymore outside of preparing for Yuki's death ceremony. Not even the pureblood's own aching heart, now bereft of every purpose that had kept him alive.

"Kaname?"

When had Takuma gotten there? Kaname bid no admittance to his once very close ally, or his greetings. If he truly had anything of worth to profess, then he would do so even without Kaname's permission.

The door creaked open slowly, but Kaname still did not flinch from his desk chair.

"We were all wondering if you might be hungry."

Kaname sensed Takuma's nervousness. It was unsurprising. Purebloods were hailed as unpredictable creatures, and Kaname was not exempt. Moreover, while a pureblood could be 'close' to others, they could never possibly be intimate with another being, other than with that of another pureblood.

And Kaname had lost her.

"Kaname-sama?" Takuma's voice had grown softer, more grounded, as if a single word could tip Kaname into a murderous rage.

"...No I'm not," Kaname finally replied, the words small utterings beneath his breath. "I appreciate your interest, but I continue to prefer my solitude."

"Of course," Takuma said, taking one more glance at the tipped brown tresses of his leader before quitting the room.

They had been doing that every day since the vampire had holed himself up in his study. They just didn't understand the magnitude of which Kaname was suffering and that his isolation was a necessity for his grief. The hunters had been the ones to murder Yuki; it would take all of Kaname's will for him to subdue the animalistic urges within him, which were commanding him to retaliate, to kill them all with the wrath of the fury he had repressed. Such myopic an act resulted in horrific consequences, such as the immediate separation of two sides already nursing a relationship so fragile that the casting of merely one small rock could shatter everything Kaname, Yuki and the late Chairman Cross had worked for. The worst of all the scenarios would be war – meaning countless uncalled for deaths of thousands of humans and vampires. It was harder still, when Kaname replayed Yuki's death in his mind, one he had agonisingly created due to his complete absence from the attack until the very last moment when Yuki withered away like an autumn leaf. He had held her in his arms, his heart tearing in two with the knowledge that nothing could save her, not even Kaname's pure blood.

Raw pain coursed through Kaname's veins like poison at the memory, heightening his murderous resolve.

_No. Don't lose perspective, for her sake._

Kaname drew in a few deep, trembling breaths in order to settle his dark impulses.

_Don't let it control you_.

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><p>Zero's legs pumped quickly, cutting raggedly through the cold, biting air. The coppery scent of blood was covering him, and splatters of the telltale crimson substance tainted his white shirt as it absorbed the liquid welcomingly. The snow beneath him crunched solidly with each running step, the wetness seeping through the hems of his black pants to his pale ankles, chilling him all the way up to the back of his neck. His arm was throbbing from the bloody wound sustained from a silver blade, the only injury he had received as a result from his rampage. The killing spree which had seen him murder more than several of his colleagues. They had killed her and had robbed him of the chase which had served his reason to live.<p>

_Yuki..._

He knew he had nowhere else to go but to the mansion's location he'd kept secret for more than two weeks now. Zero understood for a fact that it was committing suicide by going there, but he'd already sealed that fate when he'd slashed his first victim's head away from his neck in bloody reprisal.

Lungs heavy, Zero stumbled through the thick of the forest to the clearing he'd discovered weeks ago while searching for a particularly elusive level E. As the mansion came into view, a new rush of adrenaline washed over the vampire. He didn't know what would happen, but the hunter was sure that the answers would lie there. He didn't bother with his usual cautiousness or even with any sort of camouflage, he simply approached the looming building, exposed and vulnerable.

Zero's surprise was unspoken at the lack of occupants as he neared the double door entranceway. He would have at least thought of guards would be around...

"Stop right there."

The hunter's path was blocked by a wall of fire. He stopped instantly and turned around, spying three faces that he had not seen since he'd attended Cross Academy. The fiery expression of the red-headed Akatsuki Kain, the cold, blank eyes of Souen Ruka and the icy blue depths of the blonde haired Hanabusa Aidou. All of which looked much the same as ever, and merely had different clothes on as opposed to the white Night Class uniform of the academy.

"Kiriryu... Zero," Kain exclaimed, his eyes wide in alarm.

"Where's Kuran-sen – Kuran?" Zero stuttered. He hadn't said that name in a very long time.

Aidou snorted. "You don't think we'd actually tell you, do you, hunter _scum_?" he sneered.

Ruka laughed mirthlessly. "Yes. You must be even more stupid than I thought."

Zero's eyes narrowed in irritation. He couldn't care less about their assumptions about him, but they were wasting his fucking time. "Extinguish the fire. I'm not really in the mood for kicking your asses this late at night, so just do it."

"You really think we'll let you through? We've had enough of _your kind_," growled Ruka.

"Likewise," Zero retorted.

"Think you can really take us all, bastard? Go ahead then," Aidou snarled.

Zero brandished his gun, unflinching, and aimed it the blonde's head. It didn't matter much to him if he died there; he didn't have anything to live for.

_Come on then..._

He flicked the safety off.

_Kill me._

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><p><strong>AN: Please drop a review!**

**Thanks everyone.  
><strong>


	2. Reassuring the Broken

**A/N: **Hey everyone! Quickest update I think I've ever made - maybe even the only one, haha, but somehow, everytime I mention that... life gets away from me and I don't update. Ever again. Oopsy.

Chapter Summary: a lot of talking ensues. Yuki's death flashbacks, bit of comic relief, and finally, just a dash of relationship development between Kaname and Zero.

Warnings: adult themes, language, fighting...

Enjoy!

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><p><strong>In Death<strong>

Chapter Two: Reassuring the Broken**  
><strong>

The intense glow of the moon disappeared behind a group of clouds wafting lazily across the midnight sky. Kaname watched it intently, unwilling to sift through the documents on the desk containing the payment methods for Yuki's ceremony yet.

_How quickly the light can fade away._

Aidou's voice tore through the gentle ambience of the night, his tone harsh and dripping with hatred. Kaname did not stir. Not yet. He continued wallowing in his grievances for the time being. Kaname knew that the others bore the capabilities of dealing with the problem, and instead listened distantly to the rabble, unable to hear anything else but.

"_...hunter _scum_."_

Kaname's skin thrilled with a sudden rush of raw aggression at the address. A hunter had dared to cross the boundaries of a pureblooded vampire's property and had made contact with his subjects. What a suicidal thing this hunter must have been. It reminded him vaguely of the type of actions an old acquaintance of his would used to take.

"_Extinguish the fire. I'm not really in the mood for kicking your asses this late at night, so just do it."_

Rigid hands clasped the arm rests of Kaname's chair. The voice was unmistakable. The biting wit, the growling timbre... Kiriyu Zero was the only one whom he would ever expect such bitterness from. Without the strong reluctance the vampire had felt in conducting any task in the past few days, Kaname chose to rise from his sullen reveries. His resolve was powerful in his heart, and brooked for no disagreement. He would face his old foe, despite what his mind was urging him, which was to let his underlings rip him limb from limb.

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><p>Zero did not hesitate as solid ice encased his feet to the ground. He pulled the trigger three times in quick succession, hitting Aidou in the arm and grazing Kain's cheek with the second bullet from the <em>Bloody Rose<em> before they could evade the attack. Ruka was quicker however, and tumbled gracefully towards the hunter before he could take aim. Effortlessly she made to use her hands as leverage to kick Zero's weapon away, but the hunter was ready and caught her leg in his hand, twisting it with excruciating accuracy. Ruka cried out in pain, the bones in her ankle crunching and cracking to accommodate the unnatural position it was twisted into.

"Bastard!" Kain rasped, sending a line of flames towards the hunter, his own eyes aflame with fury.

Still grasping Ruka's leg, Zero threw her to his side, bracing himself for the heat of Kain's licking flames, but it never came. A force-field effectively blocked the attack from harming the level D.

"What...?" Zero looked up and caught the vampires' horrified faces. He turned, his legs now free and saw Kuran Kaname standing on the steps leading to the entranceway to the mansion dressed in black pants and a loose, dark navy silk shirt. His eyes were blank and his expression devoid of emotion.

"Enough," the pureblood said sharply. He appeared worn, yet somehow... livelier than the hunter had expected.

Zero stared at the vampire, taking note of his unchanged features and the overt exhaustion he expelled through his aura. "Kuran," he murmured, swallowing thickly.

_Why...?_

Kaname could not describe the feeling of heightened anxiety which fluttered within him at the sight of the bloodied hunter. It was so inappropriate and totally... foreign, especially when the only thing he'd experienced during the last few days was a deep depression which had sucked him even further into the throes of his psychological and emotional Hell. Yet, he couldn't help but feel slightly prideful that the hunter which he had pushed to live – for Yuki – had sought him out upon her death. It was almost if Kaname was needed in a way unattributed to... well any other role he had previously served as.

Deflecting the attack of Kain's flames provided the pureblood with a small mercy to the power which was pulsing threateningly just beneath the surface of Kaname's whims. Without a far larger outlet, he feared it would begin to consume the logical and good side of his mind. In other words, he needed space for the pressure to swell in order for it to ease.

"Come, Kiriyu. Your wounds must be tended to," Kaname offered, his excuse to aid the hunter fooling everyone except Zero. The pureblood then turned on his heel and didn't wait for the other to follow him; he knew he would. He ignored the horrified looks of his 'friends'. He simply didn't have the time, or the capacity. Graceful despite himself, Kaname whisked up the stairs and onto the landing. He paused before the door that led into his office and then swiftly decided against the setting. Kaname didn't have a doubt that Zero would be disarmed at the mere documents which lied within, reminding him of... her. Though the pureblood didn't know why he should shield the hunter from the facts, from the reality. It was _he_ who had to deal with them. _He_ who had to scour them later and find her name printed on them... But even amidst his spiteful judgements, he did not allow his darker side the satisfaction and strolled into his bedchambers. Kaname stood in the middle of the room and slid his long fingers through his hair. Once he was sure Zero had bid entry, he used his ability to move objects with a thought, shutting and locking the door behind the other.

He did not turn, and he spoke no words to Zero. He only took in Zero's slightly befuddled aura.

_Well, if Kuran wasn't going to talk..._

"I want to know what happened."

It was utterly frank and direct. Kaname was not surprised at that, but he was surprised that Zero had so little knowledge about the ordeal. "You were not informed?"

Kaname heard Zero snort, before the sound of ripping fabric interrupted. "Just tell me."

Kaname pursued the fact no further and exhaled audibly. "Yuki," he winced a little at the mention, "wanted to go into town. Aidou, Kain and Ruka offered to accompany her, so I bade little thought to the question of her safety." The pureblood could sense Zero's rigid movements as he wrapped the torn fabric of his shirt around his bleeding arm. "There was an ambush..."

"_Kaname-sama, we've been attacked by a group of hunters... we need help urgently!"_

_The second the pureblood had heard, his heart stopped._

"They were ruthless and highly skilled hunters and my own were unable to stop them. Each sustained... horrifying injuries."

"_Where's Yuki?" Kaname demanded as he shook Kain roughly, his rage reining over everything else that entered into his mind. "Where is she?"_

Kain coughed violently. His blood covered his shaking hand when he pulled it away from his mouth. "They killed her... the hunters they... they killed her."

"They held her as a hostage while they tormented Aidou, Kain and Ruka. Then they shot her through the back of her head with silver nitrate." Kaname stopped there and reached his right arm out to touch the frame of his bed, steadying himself. It had severely tired him, cut down every barrier he'd spent building up again that he couldn't even hold himself upright anymore. It was just too much. He felt raw, empty and utterly purposeless.

Zero steeled himself, but could not help the excruciation smart of his eyes and their rotten denouement – _tears. _He hated crying in the pureblood's presence, it felt like he was being so damn weak... so damn pathetic. He clamped his teeth onto his bottom lip, refusing unremittingly to let his emotions be exposed any further than they already had been. Zero had spent the whole time ever since he found out about Yuki's death brooding and vengeful... and yet now he felt he could no longer hold up the facade. It was as if the hunter had stumbled into a suffocating abyss. Perhaps the melancholy – while minimal and nearly nonexistent back home – thrived here and was the trigger. Involuntarily, Zero let out a choked sob, which he quickly covered over with his hand in order to stifle any more unwanted outbursts.

Kaname turned at that instant, somehow a little aghast with the ex-human's utterance of pain. His eyes befell on the other, noting his sudden frailty and vulnerability as he quivered in the suppression of his emotions. The pureblood acquired the strange urge to... hold the hunter in that moment of weakness, to share with him his own broken self which achingly desired to no end acceptance and understanding. It was strange how it dredged up such a feeling of eagerness within him, one as such he hadn't felt since Yuki had departed with him from Cross Academy.

However, the urge was not enough to persuade Kaname's turmoil and adherence to nature's guidelines. It just felt all too wrong.

"The fuck are you staring at?" Zero spoke up, his voice trembling in betrayal as he wiped furiously at the descending tears falling from his eyes.

_Screw the guidelines._

Kaname moved towards the other sitting on the edge of the bed and gathered the slim body into his arms. His knee pressed on the mattress between Zero's thighs to support him as he quietened any protests and angry sobs that tried to squeeze their way out of Kaname's tight embrace. After a while, the hunter's arms that had gone limp from the contact suddenly rose to scrabble in the silk fabric covering the pureblood's back, accompanying Zero's wracks of sobbing. They both needed the comfort, however ill advised and unstable it was.

"I need to dress the wound, Kiriyu. Please oblige your body's needs."

"Fuck off," the hunter said softly. Zero averted his eyes, reluctant to go through with anything Kaname Kuran had to offer. He was embarrassed beyond belief from their earlier... meeting. He could damn well take care of his own wounds without the pureblood's help. And besides, he'd be out of there by morning.

Kaname took no more of this and grabbed the ex-human's bloody arm, eliciting a gasp from his enemy who quickly tried to snatch it back.

"Let go of me, Kuran! I mean it!"

Pulling the makeshift bandage off the injury, Kaname ignored the orders, and instead concentrated on the gory scene in front of him. "I need to bathe it and clean out the wound. The bullet went through-and-through it seems... it should heal slowly due to the nitrate, but it won't be forever. The healing process could go faster," auburn eyes pierced through lilac ones, "if you were to drink my blood, of course."

It seemed more like a dare than a genuine offer. Zero felt sick at the thought. "I'll be fine," he snapped back. "I can tend to it myself, Kuran. I'm not just some doll you can do what you wish with; I don't have interchangeable sets of pink clothing."

Kaname's brows rose. He'd never thought Zero to be the irreverent type, but his humour had indeed been amusing. The pureblood caught the light blush on the ex-human's face before he avoided eye contact again. He felt the need to chase the light banter, oddly enough. "Perhaps then if I sent for a few items from Ruka's wardrobe, you might concur?"

Zero fought the twitch to... chuckle. What the hell was happening? What were they now, best friends? A scorpion and its prey could never form bonds; each would befall the call of its own nature eventually. In that belief, the hunter was adamant.

"What happened to you, Kiriyu?"

The tender deep voice broke Zero's knitted brows apart. "What do you mean?" he grumbled, looking away.

"Your arm, the blood, your various other injuries... what were they the result of?" Kaname inquired gently, the fingers which held Zero's arm unconsciously rubbing comfortingly against the skin.

Zero's immense frown returned. "Nothing." How could he possibly have admitted what he'd done to the very thing he dubbed the more monstrous one?

Kaname held his eyes steady on the other for a few seconds before letting the topic go. He let Zero's arm go and stood. He then pointed to another door on the opposite side of the room. "In there is my en-suite. Feel free to use whatever is in there and tend to your wounds. I'll have fresh clothes waiting for you when you emerge," he stated before crossing to the other door which led into the corridor to leave. If Zero could not bear the thought of the pureblood touching him, then he would not press the matter.

Kaname descended the staircase to where a small gathering where all milling around. Ruka sat on one plush seat, rubbing her rapidly healing ankle while Aidou and Kain both sat cross legged on the floor while Takuma and Rima cleansed their wounds.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow Rima! That hurts like hell!" Aidou whined rather pathetically, grasping at his forearm in pain.

"Be cool, Hanabusa..." muttered Kain as Takuma brushed a cotton-ball against his bleeding cheek.

"Oh! Says the guy whose only injury was a scratch on the cheek!" Aidou shouted back fierily.

Kain sighed. "Well, if you'd been more agile, you would have dodged the bullet like Ruka and I had..."

"Why you!"

"That is enough. Aidou. Kain."

All five heads whipped up in the direction of their leader who was standing at the foot of the stairs.

"K-Kaname-sama, I apologise," Aidou exclaimed, hanging his head in shame.

The pureblood waved off his apology in a bid to signal to him not to worry. It had been a while since he'd faced nearly all of his comrades... "Where's Shiki?" he asked, noticing his absence.

"Sleeping, Kaname-sama. I can go get him if you want," Rima said, her tone lucid and dull. She hadn't changed.

Kaname shook his head decisively. He knew how dazed and disorientated Shiki got when he was roused. "That's alright, Rima."

There was a moment of silence where a feeling of insecurity spread around the group like wildfire.

"Kaname...," Takuma began, pausing when he did not quite know how to continue. "Kiriyu-kun... may I ask why he's here?"

All eyes in the room focused on their master at that point, mutually eager to hear the response from Kaname's own lips.

"All I will tell you is this: Kiriyu-kun, for however long he resides here with us, is to be treated with respect, and any deviation from that strict order will be punished accordingly. Is that understood?" Kaname asked, his voice unrelenting in its demands.

"Yes, Kaname-sama," his followers replied unanimously. No one dared to overstep any boundaries the pureblood made henceforth. His inherent instability was not to be trifled with.

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><p>Zero pressed his forehead against the tiled wall of the shower as warm water cascaded down his back. He was trapped, and everyone knew it. He'd lost everything in the past week, his purpose, sanity... dignity... And now he'd ended up with the pureblood he'd lost everything to in his adolescence the first time.<p>

Every day he woke since abandoning the academy, he grew wearier of the life he had melded himself into living. He barred off any and every person from his affections, and barred their affections from himself. That was why he was here, in Kuran's mansion in the middle of nowhere, taking a leisurely shower. Zero wondered why the pureblood hadn't let his cronies finish off his pathetic nuisance of a life. They were supposed to hate each other, damn it. But then the stupid idiot had gone and actually... had actually _hugged _him, when he'd broken apart. And Zero had willingly let him. He still remembered the rapid cadence of his heart beat... torturing his already tormented soul.

Zero clenched his hands into fists. Why didn't they get rid of him? It would have been a blessing to both sides. Surely. Zero wanted to die, and he no such qualms about leaving the world. The world gained nothing from him, and he gained nothing from _it_.

He turned off the taps and dragged the towel into the stall, wrapping it around his waist as he stepped out onto the mat. There was a stool in the corner of the luxury bathroom which the ex-human immediately went to, in order to put some antiseptic on his wounds and bandage them up. Before sitting, the hunter opened the cupboard underneath the sink, rifling through various bottles to find some of said antiseptic. Surely there was some lying around...

Zero's hands stilled. Located in the very back of the cupboard was a mug... inscribed on it was Yuki's name. The familiar colourfully dotted pattern on the shiny ceramic mug was enough to make his heart throb. It was the mug he'd given to Yuki one Christmas among some other things. She'd used it ever since. Zero supposed he shouldn't have been so astonished, he'd noticed it was gone from Cross's drawer after she'd left with the night class, so it was only logical that it would still be around the Kuran mansion. Next to it, uncannily, was the damn bottle of antiseptic. He drew it out and opened it, intent on wrapping his wounds up quickly. He had to get out... this place was just too full of her ghost. But the mug... he wished to keep.

When Zero opened the door into Kaname's bedroom holding clasping the mug in just the towel, Kaname was there, standing at the foot of the bed holding a fresh set of clothes. He set them down and turned to greet the half naked hunter with a dumbfounded look.

"Oh. My apolo – Kiriyu, that mug..." Kaname's attention was exchanged swiftly.

"I bought it... for Yuki, a long time ago," Zero explained levelly, albeit awkwardly amidst the situation. Truth be told, now that he was showered he felt more relaxed, more communicative.

"Oh," Kaname said again. "I... took that from Yuki's room not so long after she died."

Suddenly, the ex-human felt extremely guilty for lifting the mug. It was now Zero's turn to say "Oh..." But... weren't they lovers? "I thought you both shared the same room."

Kaname shook his head, his eyes darkening.

Slowly, deliberately, Zero placed the cup into the pureblood's grasp. Overtly... he'd needed it too. Without knowing the sheer significance what the mug represented, of course Zero had swiped it, but now he knew and had the plans that he had... it brought on no great loss.

Kaname gazed into lilac depths questioningly. He hadn't expected him to give it to him... "Kiriyu," he started, the mug left in his hands when the ex-human pulled away from their proximity.

Zero shook his head. "Forget it."

A flicker of shared understanding transcended between auburn and lilac eyes at that moment, which both frightened and exhilarated the pureblood and the ex-human simultaneously.

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><p><strong>AN: **I sure hope it wasn't as bad as I'm currently envisioning it to be. Eeep. Please drop a review if you're inclined, thank you!


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